Patent Document 1 discloses a garnish mounting apparatus 1 for mounting a garnish 3 to a body member 8 (e.g., an inner panel of a front pillar) by a clip 2. The garnish mounting apparatus 1 (“comparison apparatus”) is a garnish mounting apparatus shown for comparison with exemplary implementations of broad inventive principles described herein.
In the prior art, a clip 2 is described that includes a tether clip having a tether 2a and an anchor 2b, and a usual clip not having a tether 2a and an anchor 2b. The front pillar extends obliquely in a frontward-downward direction of a vehicle, and a Curtain Shield Airbag (“CSA”) 7. See FIG. 3. The CSA7 extends along the front pillar from an upper portion of the front pillar to a midway portion of the front pillar spaced from the upper portion in the frontward-downward direction.
At a first front pillar portion where the CSA 7 extends beside the clip 2, a tether clip is used for the clip 2. At a second front pillar portion where the CSA 7 does not extend beside the clip 2 (and which is located more frontward-downward than the first front pillar portion along the front pillar), a usual clip is used for the clip 2. The clip which is an object of the exemplary implementations is a tether clip.
A mounting structure in the comparison apparatus 1 for mounting the garnish 3 to the body member 8 by the tether clip 2 is as follows:
The garnish 3 includes a rack 4 formed in the shape of a box and formed at a back surface of the garnish. A rectangular aperture 5 is formed at a bottom wall 4a of the rack 4, and the clip 2 extends through the aperture 5. A side surface of the rack 4 opposing the CSA is inclined toward the CSA 7 in a direction from the bottom wall 4a to the garnish 3 for easy removal of a die at the time of molding and for forming an embossment on the side surface.
The tether clip 2 includes the tether 2a bent in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the garnish and in a width direction of the garnish, the anchor 2b formed at a tip of the tether 2a and bulged in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the garnish, a flange 2c, a holding portion 2d for holding the bottom wall 4a of the rack between the flange 2c and the holding portion, an elastic lip 2e and an engagement hook 2f. The tether 2a and the anchor 2b are inserted into the rack 4 through the rectangular aperture 5. The clip 2 is fixed to the body member 8 by inserting a head 2g of the clip 2 through the aperture 6 formed at the body member 8 and holding an aperture-edge portion of the body member 8 between the elastic lip 2e and the engagement hook 2f. 
An engagement strength of the engagement hook 2f with the body member 8 is larger than an engagement strength of the holding portion 2d with the bottom wall 4a of the rack. As a result, when the CSA 7 is expanded, the tether clip 2 is not removed from the body member 8, while the garnish 3 is moved relative to the clip 2 in a direction away from the body member 8. When the anchor 2b of the clip 2 engages the aperture-edge portion of the bottom wall 4a of the rack, the movement of the garnish 3 stops, and thereby the garnish 3 is prevented from scattering into a cabin of the vehicle. At the time of maintenance, the garnish 3 is necessarily removed from the body member 8 together with the clip. As a result, in some cases, the engagement hook 2f will be damaged and the aperture-defining edge of the body member 8 will be deformed. In such cases, it will be difficult to reuse the clip and it will be necessary to repair the deformed aperture defining-edge of the body member 8.
It is necessary to suppress a rotational movement of the garnish 3 relative to the body member 8 about a longitudinal axis of the garnish (“rotational play”). The rotational play of the garnish 3 is a summation of a rotational play at a contact seat plane 9 (a plane connecting the tips of a pair of elastically deformed lips 2e) of the elastic lip 2e relative to the body member 8 and a rotational play of the bottom wall 4a of the rack 4 relative to the flange 2c of the clip.
The rotational play at the contact seat plane 9 of the elastic lip 2e relative to the body member 8 is suppressed by selecting a width of the contact seat plane 9 in the width direction of the garnish perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the garnish to be a predetermined width W1p, where W1p is a dimension existing between about 14 mm-20 mm.
The rotational play of the bottom wall 4a of the rack relative to the flange 2c of the clip is suppressed by selecting a width of the contact surface of the bottom wall 4a of the rack with the flange 2c of the clip in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the garnish to be a predetermined width W2p, where W2p is nearly equal to W1p and is a dimension existing between about 14 mm-20 mm.    Patent Document 1: Patent Publication JP 2006-176089